This account is pending registration confirmation. Please click on the link within the confirmation email previously sent you to complete registration.Need a new registration confirmation email? Click here

Apple Is Reportedly Boosting iPhone, iPad Production

NEW YORK (
TheStreet) -- If you needed further evidence that the iPhone 5s is in high-demand, here's another data point.

The Wall Street Journal reported
Apple(AAPL - Get Report) is adding new manufacturing partners in Asia, as it seeks to boost production of both the iPhone 5s and the 5c, as well as the iPad, as demand continues to be rampant for the products.

Apple's normal manufacturing partner,
Hon Hai Precision, also known as
Foxconn, is working on building strictly the iPhone 5s, which is in short supply. Apple will outsource manufacturing of the iPhone 5c to
Wistron Corp. The iPad mini is expected to be manufactured by
Compal Communications, which would be a new partner for Apple, according to sources close to the matter.

"Apple has raised this quarter's iPhone 5S orders from Hon Hai as demand has been stronger than expected. But it takes time to boost production capacity and Apple can't find other assemblers to increase production to meet demand immediately," said a Hon Hai executive who was quoted in the story.

Apple couldn't be reached imediately for comment for this story.

Both Apple and Hon Hai have been at odds in recent months for a variety of reasons. There have been reports of unfair labor practices, as well as several defective iPhone 5s devices, which may have led to the decision for Apple to include another manufacturing partner to increase its supply chain, and increase demand.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has continued to add to its supply chain, which is already complex. Compal, which is slated to make the iPad mini, has reserved a plant in China to start producing iPhones in China despite not getting orders from Apple yet. CEO Tim Cook has said that Apple's supply chain is incredibly complex and not to read too much into stories about any one supplier cutting production.

In this case, though, adding a new manufacturing partner suggests that it may well be not only an "iPad Christmas," as Cook said on Apple's recent earnings call, but an iPhone Christmas as well.

Product Features:

To begin commenting right away, you can log in below using your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID or Yahoo login credentials. Alternatively, you can post a comment as a "guest" just by entering an email address. Your use of the commenting tool is subject to multiple terms of service/use and privacy policies - see here for more details.